With rising Jamaican sensation Vitel Lawes set to make his Caribbean Premier League (CPL) debut this year, former Jamaica and West Indies spinner Nikita Miller believes it will be a major boost to his development.

West Indies Under-19-star Lawes will turn out for the Jamaica Kingsmen in this season’s CPL Twenty20 tournament after being selected as one of the top young players in the draft.

The 19-year-old left-arm spinner has been making a name for himself over the last year with his local and international performances.

Lawes was one of the top bowlers at the ICC Under-19 World Cup in Zimbabwe and Namibia earlier this year, picking up 10 wickets, including best figures of 3 for 23 against Tanzania on January 14. His performances earned him a spot in the team of the tournament, becoming the only West Indian player to make the cut.

The St Jago High standout has also impressed senior West Indies Head Coach Daren Sammy, resulting in a call-up to a 10-day high-performance camp in Antigua starting on May 21 ahead of the regional side’s ODI series against Sri Lanka next month.

It will be a busy summer for Lawes who joins established Jamaican stars Andre Russell and Rovman Powell in the Kingsmen team.

Miller has witnessed Lawes’ rise first hand in his role as Windies Under-19 assistant coach and told the Jamaica Observer that the young star has what it takes to make an impact in the CPL.

“He will be coming up against high-level performers from all around the world, and this will really test his ability to operate at a high level. He’s been playing low-level cricket, school-wide cricket, and so on,” he said. “But CPL will provide an opportunity or a test to show what he’s really made of. It will require him to stay grounded, focused, and continue to develop because he’s not the finished article as yet.”

“He has ability, talent, and he has shown it occasionally at the local level. He has done it at the international Under-19 level so it will be interesting to see how he fares in this CPL.”

Miller, a former title winner with the Jamaica Tallawahs, believes the Kingsmen is the right team for him to develop further.

“I think that he has the mental capacity and ability to operate and do well at that level and it really shows the trust that the franchise has in him. And he will be led by a capable captain [Powell] — a very good captain, a captain that will trust him and put him in situations that allow him to excel.”

Along with Lawes, Russell, and Powell, four other Jamaicans have so far been selected among the Kingsmen’s 12 picks: batsman Kirk McKenzie, wicketkeeper-batsman Romaine Morris, and all-rounders Odean Smith and Jeavor Royal.

Miller says the CPL will give the local players a platform to earn higher honours with the West Indies or other global franchise leagues.

“I think it’s also an opportunity for the local talent to go and express themselves and show what Jamaica and the region has been missing, and hopefully they can make a claim for a West Indies game or an international franchise or something,” he said.

“We haven’t had any cricket here in a long while, and they haven’t had a lot of these players who are now in the squad. They haven’t had an opportunity in CPL as well, because we didn’t really have a franchise, so this provides an opportunity for them to go out and just enjoy cricket and express themselves through what they’re made of.”

He added, “Let’s see where they end up at the end of the tournament. They might end up in the play-offs, they might not. But in terms of the ability and the talent in the squad, they should be fighting for a place in the play-offs.”

CPL returns to Jamaica for the first time since 2019, with Sabina Park set to host four games from August 11 to 18. The Kingsmen open their season on August 7 against the Antigua and Barbuda Falcons in St Vincent.

Vitel Lawes represents St Jago High during the ISSA/Grace all-island Spalding Cup cricket play-off match against St Elizabeth Technical at Melbourne Oval on April 8, 2026. Photo: Naphtali Junior

MILLER… CPL will provide an opportunity or a test to show what he’s really made of Photo: CWI Media